Podcast: Play in new window | Embed
Tech News & Commentary
Joshua in Sparta, Tennessee listens on WTN 99.7 and is calling via the App asked us: “I wanted to ask Chris if he can give me a link to the app he was talking about that helped you in the grocery store. Also, I wanted to know if you guys had an app or a suggestion on how to get the maps in cars that would actually give a good download for streets and that sort of things. I noticed that in my wifes car, a bunch of roads are considered not viable, where they’re in my Garmin and my Garmin is not technically as updated as her vehicle is supposed to be.”
Chris recommended the app ShopWell.
As far as GPS goes, as long as she always has data service, just about any of the popular online maps will do, Google and Bing both offer mapping and directions for smartphones, as does MapQuest. If connectivity is an issue, the big brands like TomTom and Garmin offer offline maps as well.
If she has navigation built into her car, those maps won’t replace what she sees on the screen, but there may be updates for those maps as well, to find those you may need to check online or with a dealership. Sometimes updates are free, sometimes they’re free for a while, sometimes they just cost you money. Whether or not that’s a worthy investment is up to you, but if you don’t want to spend the money, you can probably find reasonable free and paid replacements right on your smartphone.
It’s also worth noting that many of the aftermarket in-car navigation and entertainment systems will either use Google Maps live, or offer a direct link to the apps on your smartphone so you can get Google Maps in that way.
Most of the time, the in-car systems that are sold with the vehicles are not the latest and greatest technology. Car makers are concerned with costs, and the cost of installing a different sized unit, for example, is multiplied by millions of dollars to change the size of the opening in the dashboard. And that’s only ONE reason why they might choose one unit over another.
So if your wife’s car is using the original navigation system that came with it, as we suggested you can contact the dealership and ask about an update, or you can Google for an online owner’s forum and ask there. But the best bet might be looking for a replacement aftermarket unit that has a much better connection with a mapping service, like Google Maps, that is constantly updated.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Trey in La Vergne, Tennessee listens on WTN 99.7FM asked us: “About the cars made by Ford that obey the speed limit. Wouldn’t that make the police officers mad that are out there trying to meet their quotas for the month? Most police officers have to give out a certain number of tickets a month. Also – if a cop pulls you over and says you’re speeding, would you be able to argue the fact that your car is unable to speed and say that he’s lying?”
Trey, Police officers will tell you that they don’t have ticket quotas to reach. Officially, that’s true. We’ve never heard of a department where there was an actual ticket quota as an official policy.
On the other hand, we are well aware of departments that have told officers who do not write enough tickets that they must not be doing their jobs well enough. The assumption being that traffic violations are out there and if you can’t find them, you’re not trying. There might be some truth to that, but it still smells like quota to us.
I personally witnessed the following, one weekend. There is a two lane road leading into a state park here in Fort Lauderdale. A police vehicle had pulled over a car and had its lights on. In Florida, there is something called the “Move Over” law that says you have to move over one lane away from an emergency vehicle with its lights on, if you are able. If you cannot move over, you must slow down to a speed 20 MPH under the posted speed limit. This was a two lane road, so you couldn’t move over. It was a 25 MPH limit so you would have to slow down to 5 MPH. The entire thing was a setup, both cars were cops, and if you went past them at more than 5 MPH, they waved you over and ticketed you. This is absolutely a true story.
Regarding your second question, many cars have speed governors today, and these Ford cars are only different in that they can set the governor’s top speed automatically and nothing else, the speed restrictions can be turned on and off.
As for telling a cop that your car can’t go fast enough to be speeding, if they have a properly calibrated speed gun that says otherwise, they’re gonna believe their tech over yours.
You can argue that invisible aliens from Neptune drive in front of you and won’t let you speed, but they don’t have to believe you when they have evidence to the contrary.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
Guest Segment:
Kevin Wasielewski, CEO – Origin PC
Custom gaming desktops and laptops computers
Kevin in Garner, North Carolina listening on WPTF 680 AM asked us: “I was calling to find out which anti-virus you use or would recommend for a laptop running Windows 7?”
Kevin, We use a paid antivirus here, so if you’d rather not pay, there are a lot of reputable free antivirus programs that would probably serve you well, for example Malware Bytes and Panda Free have been rated as the editors choices by PC Mag and you can have either of them for free.
If you think your computer is getting a little old and would like to have something lightweight, Microsoft Security Essentials is known for being very good about not slowing down the operating system and it regularly scores high on reliability and threat detection. Now, if you’re willing to pay, our antivirus of choice for a few years has been Vipre, it’s currently on sale for $50, but it will normally cost you $80.
Webroot and BitDefender have been scoring high on antivirus tests lately too and they will cost you $20 and $40 respectively.
And while we don’t want to discourage you from running a resident program to protect against viruses and malware, we do want to make everyone aware of an interesting alternative. It’s called Virus Total and it’s a website at virustotal.com.
What makes it unique is that it allows users to upload a file they want tested and it runs it against ALL of the popular antivirus engines. In most cases, when you’ve downloaded some plugin that some website says you have to have, you’re probably inviting something bad into your computer.
A few minutes spent uploading that file back to Virus Total might save you hours of disinfecting and repairing. In our testing, with so many engines checking the file, nothing has been able to slip past. If they ALL say it’s good…then it’s good.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Burg: Burg 16A Smartwatch – connects with iOS and Android phones, offering handsfree calling, text and e-mail notifications and more!
Education.Com: Several “Brainzy” 12-month codes for online early-learning programs for math and reading. If you’ve got Kids … you WANT one of these!
HD Radio: “Into Tomorrow” branded Portable AM/FM/HD Radios – these are in high demand and give you more FREE radio — the way it should be!
LG: An LG ‘G’ Vista Smartphone with an extra large display and good battery life.
NanoTech: Several UltraFlix Gift Cards for 4K Content, like movies and a ton of other cool stuff. Let us know if you have a 4K Ultra HD TV!
NovaPhotos: A couple of their cool Bluetooth off-camera FLASH units for iPhone (that we featured in a recent ITTV piece). Perfect for Selfies. They have 40 LEDs!